Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 70-69 loss at Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Penn’s first game against Rutgers in 50 years should have been a statement win.

It wound up becoming a collapse right up there with the worst losses of the Steve Donahue era.

Plagued by a toxic combination of fouls, turnovers, mental mistakes and poor free throw shooting, the Quakers frittered away the 66-59 lead they held with 2:24 to play against the Scarlet Knights at Jersey Mike’s Arena Saturday night.

The coup de grâce in a 70-69 loss came when junior forward TJ Power missed two free throws with eight seconds left that would have effectively iced the game. After the second miss, Rutgers (6-6) guard Tariq Francis capped off a career-high 34-point evening by draining a pull-up game-winning three-pointer with 0.9 seconds to play over a good contest from freshman guard Jay Jones.

For Penn (6-5), the only saving grace about the loss is that it occurred in nonconference play and means nothing for the team’s Ivy and postseason ambitions. It’s better for this young team to learn a harsh lesson like this now when it can still be used as a learning experience.

So, about that learning experience. What did fans learn on Saturday night?

TJ Power’s mistakes were the most visible, but he was far from alone.

Power, by the counting stats, had a good evening. He dropped a 19-point, 13-rebound double-double while barely receiving a breather in 37 minutes played. He got to the rim. He made a few threes. It was everything you’d want out of the forward.

The flipside is that Power’s worst moments came when it mattered most. He missed three free throws in the final 23 seconds of the game. He committed an equally bad error with 55 seconds to play and the Quakers leading by five when he lost the ball — possibly dribbling it off his foot — and immediately fouled Francis. That allowed Rutgers to cut the deficit to three without any time coming off the clock.

However, a collapse like what we saw on Saturday is what happens when small mistakes snowball. The disaster was really set in motion with 2:07 to play. That’s when Rutgers, at that point down six, was inbounding under the Penn basket after it won a tie-up. The Scarlet Knights threw the ball deep into the backcourt, and AJ Levine made the ultra-aggressive decision to try and deflect the pass away from Francis.

But Penn didn’t need aggression at that moment. Levine got called for his fifth foul, and Francis converted both free throws. Coach Fran McCaffery justifiably blew up on Levine on the sideline after he was disqualified from the game. If Rutgers needs to spend another 15 or 20 seconds to get those two points — or comes up empty — Penn probably wins.

Similarly, the Quakers probably would have won if Jones had been able to convert the layup opportunity he had with 30 seconds to play, which would have pushed the Penn lead back to five.

The Quakers desperately missed Ethan Roberts.

Without falling too much into the thrall of the fallacy of the predetermined outcome, the Quakers probably win on Saturday going away if Roberts is on the floor.

There’s still no timeline for the senior wing to return from the scary-looking injury he suffered against Villanova a few weeks ago, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian.

Penn’s offense, frankly, did not look good for long stretches on Saturday despite the fact the team led nearly wire-to-wire. There wasn’t enough of the consistent dribble penetration Roberts provides on a nightly basis.

Similarly, Roberts likely would have been asked to shoot the clutch free throws that ultimately fell onto Power’s shoulders. Roberts is shooting roughly 80% from the line against Division I opponents.

New faces are beginning to emerge. 

The point guard situation remains unsettled. KenPom actually loved Levine on Saturday night and gave him an offensive rating of 222 points per 100 possessions in 16 minutes. That was despite the fact that Levine never attempted a shot from the field and fouled out.

Cam Thrower would normally be first in line as the next man up at point guard, but he got yanked from the game and also sat for a long stretch in the second half after two consecutive turnovers on simple inbounds against Rutgers’ press allowed the Scarlet Knights to tie the game at 39.

Alex Massung, surprisingly, got the first extended action of his career. The sophomore finished with a KenPom offensive rating of 150 points per 100 possessions and finished with four points on three shots. He had one nifty finish at the rim and converted another layup opportunity on a runout.

Another big positive on Saturday was the performance of Dalton Scantlebury. The freshman big man looks like he’ll be playing starter minutes by the end of the season after he put up 13 points and seven boards. Scantlebury had a couple nice finishes around the rim and an impressive two-handed dunk out of a pretty pick-and-roll action with Levine.